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Who's in Favor of Targeted Social Media Ads?

In the digital age, when many people feel increasingly uncomfortable with personal data being collected and used for advertising, a majority of social media users nevertheless say they prefer that ads served to them on social networking pages be tailored to their lifestyle, according to a new survey from Ipsos OTX and Ipsos Global @dvisor.

Among socially networked people worldwide, 56% say they prefer when ads served via their social networking page are tailored to them personally, compared with 44% who favor ads that are more general.

Social networkers in the US are even more enthusiastic about targeted ads: 58% favor the approach, compared with 42% who favor nontargeted ads.

Meanwhile, socially networked women and social networkers under age 35 are the more likely than other social networkers to prefer targeted ads: each at 61%:

Attitudes toward targeted ads are fairly consistent across income levels. That finding also holds true across educations levels.

However, among all the demographic groups studied, socially networked business owners and senior-level decision-makers are the most likely to have a favorable attitude toward targeted ads (67% and 62%, respectively):

Though tailored ads are not yet the preference by a huge mandate, they can help brands reach the most potentially lucrative prospects.

For example, Facebook Ads are targeted to users based on their Profile information, such as age, location, education, relationship status, and interests (Interests Targeting helps advertisers target people based on information they've added to their timeline).

The sales of such ads are an important part of Facebook's strategy.

With some 1.01 billion monthly active users, ad sales made up roughly 86% of Facebook's $1.26 billion total revenues in the third quarter of 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported.